George Roll

After losing seasons the past three years, Clarkson has decided to fire head coach George Roll and top assistant Greg Drechsel.

Athletic director Steve Yianoukos met with members of the Golden Knights and told them the news. Assistant coach Chris Rogles will assume management for the program while a national search for a new head men’s hockey coach launches immediately.

"We've started our national search," Clarkson athletic director Steve Yianoukos told the Watertown Daily Times. "We're very committed to hiring the best possible coach to fit the Clarkson University athletic mold. We are committed to get the best possible person."

Roll coached for eight seasons in Potsdam, finishing with a 130-142-33 record. His coaching resume at Clarkson includes an ECAC tournament championship, as well as NCAA tournament appearances in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, Clarkson defeated St. Cloud State in the NCAAs before losing to Michigan in the Regional final.

Roll and Drechsel have been with the Golden Knights most recently since 2003. Roll served eight years previously as an assistant coach at Clarkson under Mark Morris from 1988 to 1996. He then led Oswego State from 1996 to 2003, including taking the Great Lakers into the title game of the 2003 Division III National Championships.

Drechsel was an assistant coach at Clarkson during the 1989 to 1993 seasons and has also held that role at Miami and Denver. He served in the scouting department for the NHL's Los Angeles Kings from 1996 until returning to Potsdam in 2003 to join Roll.

Roll took over at one of the lowest points in the program's history, sixth months after Morris was fired. In the first season, he improved the team from 12 wins to 18, making a run to the ECAC championship game before losing to Harvard. After struggling a bit from there, Clarkson eventually made the NCAAs in back-to-back seasons, but then went through a number of setbacks the last few years.

This past season, Clarkson improved from last to seventh, but lost a first-round ECAC series to Harvard at home.